


Because I'm The Oldest!

by yanna_banna



Category: m: おそ松くん| Osomatsu-kun (Anime 1988), おそ松くん| Osomatsu-kun (Anime 1966), おそ松さん | Osomatsu-san (Anime)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 10:04:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19060444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yanna_banna/pseuds/yanna_banna
Summary: The Matsunos are going through some hard times...Osomatsu can deal with a little extra pressure right?





	Because I'm The Oldest!

‘Okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, everything’s fine. Just a bit of bad news that’s all, it’s fine! I can do it, i can do it, it’s all going to be fine. I am the eldest after all, if I can’t do this much what hope is there for me? When did the room start spinning? I can do it and I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine. It’s all going to work out and then everything will fall back into place! It’s okay, it’s alright and just fine. Just calm down, Osomatsu.’

“Osomatsu nii-san? Mom’s still here right?” 

The youngest brother of the Matsuno family snapped his eldest brother from his dazed panic as he walked in. With a shutter and jolt, Osomatsu looked upwards to his little brother and did his best to respond back in his usual relaxed tone. “Sorry Totty, she just left a few minutes ago.”

Todomatsu gave a disappointed ‘hmph’ as he walked over to his regular spot in the family room. “What can I say? You snooze you lose, lil bro. What did you need her for?”

“I just wanted to tag along with her. I was hoping she’d buy me a few things I needed.” Osomatsu gave a sigh that basically meant “huh, figures”. The two continued a conversation that only slightly distracted the overwhelming thoughts of the eldest. Only minutes earlier, the red dressed matsu was sat down by his mother and was given a message as the ‘leader’ of her children. According to their father, Matsuzo, he may get fired soon if some things at work didn’t pan out properly. He was told by his boss he would be the first to be laid off and that it may take a while before he could find another job. Their mother told them if he were to get fired that the six would have to move out since money would be tight, and none were aloud to move back in once they did. No exceptions.

No chance to be a dependent, no possibility of coming back if things went south for any of them, and no more coddling. If their father did get fired, it would be Osomatsu’s job to tell his brothers and ensure they find somewhere to stay. “A chance to take some responsibility” as Matsuyo put it.

There was a slight bit of hope, since things weren’t set in stone yet and there was a chance their father could keep his job. It was still scary to Osomatsu though. The thought of such a drastic change in such a short amount of time tore Osomatsu into pieces. He was shaking, he felt like he was on fire, and his breathing felt a lot more shallow. The tinge of gray he had at the corner of his eyes and the slight ringing in his ears that made his headache feel like hell, but he couldn’t help but try and hide it. Nothing happened yet and he would rather die than give this news to his brothers before he got confirmation there was no way they could stay in their childhood home. This isn’t the first time he was given this sort of responsibility, being the oldest means you hold the most secrets after all. So with his million dollar smile, he did what he always did: keep the news from his brothers until there was no other choice.

Hours later at dinner, Osomatsu didn’t feel any less anxious like he expected. He managed to get the extra symptom of nausea, wanting to throw up at the idea of eating food. At this point he wished his mother didn’t tell him and gave him a warning about something as earth shattering as the secret he had to keep for a bit. He was horrified every time she opened her mouth, flinching whenever he heard her voice, knowing that at any time she could deliver the reality crushing news. If she had told him after everything happened, he could have acted and then thought about how he felt after. However, it wasn’t just him, he had to think about his brothers as well. That was another thing that stressed him: he knew something they couldn’t know right now and he couldn’t let them know because then they would stress as well then the whole house would be divided again. He couldn’t do anything but prepare for the worst and pretend as if they weren’t about to be kicked out if their dad lost his fucking job.

Osomatsu was a pretty good actor, so he was able to get through dinner without giving hint that he was stressed. His head whirled and throbbed, but he managed to eat a reasonable amount of food and keep it down. His brothers didn’t look twice whenever he said something, a good sign to Oso. He locked eyes with his parents once or twice, each time it filled him with dread, and it made him twice as nauseous with every glance towards their table.

He threw up later when everyone else was asleep.

A few day passed and there still wasn’t any news from Matsuyo or Matsuzo. At this point Osomatsu was cracking. This blasting headache wouldn’t go away, he couldn’t keep food inside his stomach no matter how hard he tried, and he seemed to be forgetting more than usual. It’s normal to forget why you walked into a room or what you were in the middle of saying, but doing it a couple dozen times a day is concerning. Osomatsu was slipping, he didn’t want to cause a scene for their sakes. He was mentally drained but he didn’t have time to worry about it. After all, he also had five other people to take care of soon.

Osomatsu would step out for hours on end, not coming back until dark. He claims he was doing “things”, but house/job hunting wasn’t as exciting as the “things” he was saying he was doing. When did everything become so expensive? And what’s with all the complicated paper work?

With all of this running around, Oso evolved from just being mentally exhausted to physically as well. Naturally, the first to notice was Ichimatsu. “Osomatsu nii-san, you look like shit. You should stay back and go to bed early.” The remaining brothers looked at the fourth son as if he’d gone crazy. 

The six had decided to go for some oden, it was Osomatsu’s idea so why did Ichi want Osomatsu to stay at home? Oso being Oso, gave the best “I’m just fine” laugh he could and protested. “Awwww, Ichimmachan! You’re worried about your older brother? How sweet, but I’m fine! Let’s go already!” The eldest was reaching his limit for the day and the red tint on his face didn’t go unnoticed by his younger siblings. “Are you getting sick, Osomatsu nii-san? You look like you’re running a fever”, Choromatsu asked. 

“What? Of course not. I’m feeling fine, you guys.” Osomatsu said a bit weaker this time. Trying to prove a point, Oso attempted to get a head start, leading the pack like he always did, but he didn’t have as much energy as he thought. On his first step he fumbled a bit, having to catch himself and thankfully not falling over. “See? You’re getting sick. Just stay home and try to fall asleep, we’ll be back later and do our best to not wake you.” Ichimatsu practically demanded Osomatsu to stay back. Eventually, he gave in and stayed home after a bit of arguing about “sibling bonding”, loosing from the numbers against him. He had to talk to his parents any way, so he didn’t really care. Turns out Matsuyo and Matsuzo are taking a small trip soon.

To look at possible homes “just in case”.

Osomatsu knew the family’s money was tight his whole life, but he didn’t think it was as scarce as his parents said. The “honor” of the title of eldest meant he was first to know when budgets changed in the house, but this is the worst month they’ve had in years. Meaning that if their father lost his job, it would get worse for his parents even without the six of the boys. That means he was worried for two more people. He was feeling dizzy again. Matsuyo and Matsuzo left for their private trip the next day, trusting the boys to take care if the house. The five youngest not knowing they might not have much more time to live in it.

Two day afterwards, Osomatsu took it upon himself to grab some things by himself while the rest stayed to clean. A few of his clones spoke against it, assuming he was still feeling sick, but they knew Osomatsu was too suborn to listen to them when he made up his mind. 

The entire time Oso was walking he couldn’t help but be anxious again. He was going over his mental checklist, with each task he knew he had to do; the stronger his headache got, and yet he also felt himself getting more lightheaded with each step. He could feel his heart beat pound throughout his whole body, each pump leaving the feeling of static in his hands and feet with each cycle. His chest was burning in pain. The rest of his body felt numb and tired, his legs nearly giving in under him. The ringing in his ears came back, continuing to grow louder when he was crossing to the other side walk…when he felt a wave of pain wash over him and everything went black.

“Well, Mr. Matsuno, it seems everything is returning to normal. You still need to be held over night for observations but you’ll be up and running by the end of the week.” 

The doctor finished giving Osomatsu the run down of everything that happened. He was hooked up to an IV, felt a sting on the side of his eye that had bandage precariously close to touching his eyeball, and was in a clean looking room that reeked of bleach so he easily figured out he was in a hospital. As soon as he connected the dots, he knew he was going to get an ass beating from his brothers. 

The nurse, who had a really nice butt, said he was only blacked out for about two hours and the hospital had to give him some morphine, along with a few other drugs, to regulate his vitals and such. No wonder he felt so much better. She also said that they weren’t quite sure what happened but he either had a stress induced borderline heart attack or a vasovagal syncope. The results were still being looked at but it was one of the two. Apparently, Osomatsu scared the doctors since he was too young to have something like this happen. Once they saw something similar happened to his father and grandfather in the records, they began to notice a pattern.

When the nurse left the room, Osomatsu took a magazine and read as he waited for the inevitable to happen.

With the sound of multiple people running, Oso already knew to brace himself for noise. The door slammed open, causing the people on the floor below to flinch from the loud sound, but Osomatsu didn’t move a muscle or even look up from his magazine. The five younger brothers froze at the door frame when they realized what they were seeing. With a sigh he put on his trademark grin and closed the reading material, trying to be as casual as he could be in this situation. Totty, who was at the back of the cluster, pushed his way forward past his older siblings and almost sprinted to the side of the hospital bed. The youngest didn’t stop himself in time and crashed head first into his brother’s chest, resulting an “oof” to be coughed out from the older of the two as the wind was knocked from his lungs. Todomatsu quickly readjusted himself so his arms were wrapped around Oso’s torso. He didn’t dare look up as he sobbed into his temporary hospital shirt. Osomatsu, clearly in pain, returned the hug and did his best to calm Totty down.

The other four followed suit shakily taking quick and large steps towards their bed ridden brother. Matsu number two and five took their place to Osomatsu’s right and number three and four on his left. Maybe it was the hint morphine still in his system, but Oso felt the need to crack some jokes to lighten the mood. 

“Fancy seeing all you here. Did you guys come all this way just to see your older brother? When did you brats become so sweet?” His attempts being followed by a loopy laugh. Karamatsu was the first to state his frustration. “Shut the hell up, Osomatsu! You had us scared to death and you have the nerve to make jokes?!” Jyushimatsu patted the blue matsu’s back to calm him down.

“The doctor told us what happened. What haven’t you been telling us Osomatsu nii-san?” Ichimatsu asked, understanding that Osomatsu’s been keeping quiet again. Just like when they were kids. The eldest was always too honest, and he couldn’t start lying to them now.

Osomatsu slowly and flatly spilled everything that’s been going on with their parents, being as gentle as he could be with news this stressful. Mid way through the announcement Todomatsu managed to stifle his cries and listend to the rest sitting on the bed, across from Oso. The youngest soon realized he couldn’t keep listening when he was growing more and more frustrated. He cut off Osomatsu and spoke through gritted teeth. “And that’s something you felt you couldn’t have told us?” The rest of the room turned their attention to Totty.

“You’re an asshole you know that?! Who do you think you are not telling us something as important as that? It was different when we were kids, but we can handle this kind of information at this age. You may be the oldest, but you don’t have the right to deny us information that effects all of us. We’re adults now. You don’t have to try and protect us from this kind of stuff anymore. You really think you can take care of all six of us? You can hardly take care of yourself, you bastard. You don’t need to keep all this to yourself anymore. You can trust us and and and”, Todomatsu sputtered as he tried to find his next words, “you can depend on us too. You don’t have to keep worrying about helping us when you need our help just as we need yours!” Totty’s eyes were already red and puffy from before but they flared up more as he felt hot tears running down his face for the second time. Osomatsu was stunned, not really being used to seeing Todomatsu of all people being so genuine. 

“Osomatsu, you may be the oldest, but I’m only younger by a few minutes”, Karamatsu began as he rubbed circles on Todomatsu’s shoulder, “I’m also able to help you, you know. I get you have a need to protect us but you’re not the only brother who feels that way too. Each of us protects one another, it’s not just you help us. That’s how it works.”

By now Osomatsu was really at a loss for words. He was never good at voiceing how he feels so he settled for the next best thing. Oso reached around and engulfed his brothers in the biggest group hug he could manage with an IV needle in his arm. Each brother leaned forward and into the embrace, wrapping each other in a hug, trying to ignore the hosptial bed that was in the way. Being as clumsy as he is, Choromatsu buckled under the weight and all surrounding brothers fell forward on top of their eldest brother in a dog pile. With some bonked heads and slapped cheeks, they all laughed in only the way siblings could when their parents weren’t around, some having some happy tears form in the corner of their eyes. 

The room’s sliding door was softly opened as the nurse knocked on the frame. “Excuse me, but visitng hours are about over.” 

After some good byes, the five youngest Matsuno brothers filed out of the room, some silenced mutters being exchanged, giving Osomatsu some quiet time in the brightly lit hospital room. When the door gave a thud as it closed, he ploped backwards into his pillow. He stared up at the ceiling and noticed how tired he was after weeks of exhaustion. He took note of his finally normal heart beat, dropping his hand over his chest where Totty left some tear stains. Osomatsu felt his eyelids slowly closing and gave in to his need for sleep. 

The bed wasn’t very comfortable.


End file.
